EDITORIAL: New BISD leaders must emphasize openness

By Enterprise editorial staff

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, July 27, 2014

The new leadership at the Beaumont ISD has been in place for less than a week, but already the change for the better is obvious. Interim Superintendent Vernon Butler and the new board of managers are giving the people of Beaumont every reason to have confidence in them. They are smart, efficient professionals who know what the priorities should be in a school district.

They will not hire or keep substandard employees who couldn't work anywhere else. They will not pay bills that lack documentation. They are the exact medicine this ailing district needed.

The new standards of conduct for the district issued by Butler last week also illustrate this shift. You have to like a superintendent who tells employees, "If a child does not succeed, it must bother you!"

Another key point that Butler and the managers should emphasize is the need for openness and transparency in all district operations. This was one of the key failings of their predecessors, and it was one of many reasons they had to go.

The new leaders will be in place for up to two years. Even with the tremendous outpouring of support that has greeted them, some disagreements are bound to happen. As long as all the pertinent facts are out in the open, it will be a lot easier for Beaumonters to accept them.

From now on, public information requests should be handled promptly. Board meetings should follow not only the letter of the Open Meetings Act but the spirit. Information about the district's financial status should be posted online and updated frequently.

That way, when a permanent superintendent and board of trustees step in, they will have a clear road map to follow. That, as much as anything, can lock in the gains of this state takeover and help Beaumont recover its reputation.